William Henry Harrison Myers

MYERS, SHANNON, KNUDSON, HALL, REIDY

Posted By: IAGenWeb Volunteer
Date: 11/12/2013 at 09:55:10

Prominent Citizen Called

Dickinson county lost one of her most active factors and useful men of recent years when Hon. W. H. H. Myers died at Milford last Saturday. He was a man of unusual force of character. When he had decided upon a course of action it was his way to fight it out on that line regardless of opposi-tion. He was a gallant soldier of the civil war. In business he had the reputation of being strict-ly honest. He paid so much for grain that his accumulations were not rapid, but the farmers appreciated his enterprise. He was a neighbor of rare kindliness and would go a long ways for a friend. He was public spirited to a fault, and the needy had no more practical sympathizer. With rare devotion he served his family upon every member of which this sad blow falls with stunning force.

In politics Mr. Myers was forceful as elsewhere. In the south townships, from his first appearance in the county, his influence was important. This fact won for him the support of the county when he stood for representative. At Des Moines and about the state he made many warm friends by his sturdy support of what he believed to be right as well as through the graces of genial comradeship. Wide spread regret attends this swift summons of death.

While it was known to a few the public generally did not realize until within a few days of the end that the case was so serious. Mr. Myers knew for some time that he was in the clutches of Bright’s disease, but he made little complaint and refused to give up the fight until the end was at hand.

From the home paper, the Milford Mail, we take these details:

William Henry Harrison Myers was born in Clinton county, Indiana, on December 24, 1839, and died at Milford, Iowa, on Saturday, January 24, 1903. In 1851 he moved with his parents to Fayette county, Iowa, where he attended school. When the civil war broke out he was a student at the Upper Iowa University, at Fayette, but deeming his country’s call of greater importance than learning he gave up his book to shoulder a musket and marched away to fight for the flag of his fathers. He enlisted as first sergeant in Co. H, 38th Iowa Volunteer Infantry on August 12, 1862, and served his country well until his discharge at Houston, Texas, August 15, 1865. He was married to Miss Mary E. Shannon at Toulon, Illinois, May 15, 1866, and located in Polk county, Iowa. He resided in Iowa the remainder of his life, with the exception of three years spent in Kansas and five years in Nebraska. In 1895 he located in Milford, buying the grain and coal business of Hall Bros., taking in as partner his son K. S. Myers. They sold out in 1901 to J. E. Knudson & Son and engaged in the grain, lumber and coal business at Arnolds Park. In 1899 he was elected as a member of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, serving his district well. He leaves a widow, four daughters and one son to mourn him.

Funeral services were held in the Methodist church at Milford Tuesday afternoons at 2 o’clock under the auspices of Gloaming Lodge, No. 482, A. F. & A. M. Rev. R. H. Reidy preached an eloquent sermon and the body was laid to rest in Okoboji cemetery.